Ballroom Blitz
by Gracie O'Malley
Summary: Who would have thought a boring dance would turn out to be so exciting! The story of how Sadie Mitchell and the Doctor met. I totally stink at summaries, okay? Okay. Set before The Hills Are Alive and A Light in the Darkness. - COMPLETE!
1. Sadie's Got Her New Dress On

**Sadie's Got Her New Dress On**

Sadie Mitchell stood in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom, checking her reflection in the glass. She tugged at the skirt of her new dress, making sure it was aligned correctly in the front and back. She always seemed to have trouble getting the hemline arranged just right, even with the mirror. Realizing the skirt placement was probably not going to get any better than what it already was, Sadie moved on. She smoothed down the blouse of her dress next, then grabbed a nearby hairbrush, running it through her medium length auburn hair. Somewhat satisfied with her overall appearance, she headed out of her bedroom. Her mother was waiting for her at the bottom of the staircase.

"Sadie Mitchell! You are not wearing THOSE shoes with that dress. Go change now." Sadie sighed.

"But Mom, I hate those shoes and you know it. Besides, I can't walk in them! What's the good of going to this dance if I'll have to sit on the side because of my stupid shoes?"

"No daughter of mine is wearing Converses with a nice dress like that. You'll never get anyone to take you seriously as a potential bride if you wear those. Go and change into the shoes I bought for you."

"Can I at least wear my flats?" Sadie asked. "I'll have a better chance in those. At least I won't be falling all over everyone."

"No. Go change." Sadie sighed again.

"Yes Mom."

Sadie returned a few minutes later, wobbling unsteadily on her black high heeled shoes. Her mother smiled.

"That's much better. You look beautiful. Now hurry up, or else you'll be late!" Sadie gripped the stair railing tightly as she descended the stairs, knowing that if she let go she was sure to fall. She took the tiny purse her mother handed to her, and slowly made her way out the door. She carefully walked to the car and slid herself onto the seat. Her mother got into the driver's seat, started up the car and backed out the driveway. Sadie hadn't been looking forward to her mother driving her to the dance, but now she was thankful that she wouldn't have to worry about driving with those horrible shoes on. She stared out the window, mindlessly counting the trees and telephone poles as they whizzed past, her mother's mindless babbling becoming just a hum in the background.

Before Sadie was quite ready, the Hall where the dance was being held came into view. Her mother stopped the car just in front of the door.

"Here we are, sweetheart! Off you go, and have a wonderful time. Bring home a boyfriend, okay?" Her mother chirruped sweetly. Sadie rolled her eyes as she opened the door to get out of the car. She stood on the sidewalk in front of the doorway for a moment, debating whether or not she could run far, far away from this whole mess, but her heels and the fact that her mother was watching to make sure she went in stopped her. Taking a deep breath and trying to look as confident as possible, Sadie began making her way towards the door. She made it all of about two feet before she stumbled for the first time.

As she began to fall towards the pavement, all Sadie could think of was how her mother was going to kill her for ruining her dress. That, and how whoever had invented high heels should be drug out into an alley and beaten senseless, maybe even killed. It took a minute to register in the madness that somehow she had escaped falling, and was suspended above the pavement now. She looked down quickly and noticed an arm around her waist. Well that explained it.

"Are you alright?" a strangely accented voice asked as she was set back on her feet. Sadie didn't recognize the voice, which was strange, as there weren't that many people in her small town. She looked up, mightily confused, to see who had caught her. He was tall, much taller than Sadie, even in her heels, dressed in a brown pinstriped suit, with a long brown coat over top of it. He had brown eyes, and wildly styled hair. Overall, he seemed very gentlemanly, and just generally nice, and Sadie took a liking to him instantly.

"Yeah, I'm good. Silly shoes," Sadie said, laughing a little. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," the man replied, making sure she was steady on her feet before heading into the Hall. Sadie noticed as he walked away that he was wearing Converse sneakers. She threw a pointed glance to her mother, who was still sitting in her car, watching, before turning and walking into the Hall.

Once inside, she immediately scanned the crowds. It was typical. There was a group of young people dancing happily to the music that was blaring from the speakers. Others were standing around a table that had various finger foods on it, chatting contently. There were a few milling around, here and there, as well. Sadie made her way over to the side, plopping herself down on a chair. She caught a brief glance of the brown-suited man she'd met outside, grabbing a sandwich off of the food table. He was strolling aimlessly around the edges of the Hall. Sadie's eyes followed him around until her view was blocked by a pair of thighs. She didn't even have to look up to see who was standing in front of her.

"Hello Dylan." Dylan had a bit of a crush on Sadie, and he was fairly cute, but he was a good five years younger than her. Way too young to be taken seriously.

"Hi Sadie!" Dylan replied, moving to sit on the chair next to her. "I was hoping you'd be here. I've been watching for you. Is that a new dress? It sure is pretty! Would you like to dance??"

"Can't," Sadie said simply. "I can barely walk in these shoes, much less dance in them." Dylan's face fell considerably.

"Oh…" Sadie felt a twinge of guilt.

"Look, over there's Amanda Lynn, I'm sure she'd be happy to dance with you. Why don't you go ask her?" she suggested.

"Okay." Dylan stood and headed over to the girl Sadie had pointed out. Soon the two of them were on the dance floor, but Dylan kept looking over Amanda Lynn's shoulder at Sadie. Sadie shook her head. Crazy kid. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, wondering how long she'd have to sit before she could go home.

"Don't you dance?" the oddly accented voice broke into her thoughts. Sadie looked up to see the man smiling down at her.

"Not in these shoes, I don't," she replied. The man sat down beside her, leaning forward as well.

"Can't blame you there," he said. "Never had much use for dancing, myself. By the way, I believe I forgot to introduce myself to you before. I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor? That's really your name?" Sadie asked.

"Yep."

"Well, that's different. But I've heard worse," Sadie said, shrugging. "I'm Sadie Mitchell." She took the Doctor's outstretched hand and shook it, grinning. "Nice to meet you."

"So what brings you here, Sadie Mitchell?" The Doctor asked. "Most people that come to dances seem to enjoy dancing."

"My Mom. She thinks if I come to a dance I'll find a boy, get married, have a few kids, you know, that whole thing. She seems to think that since I'm over twenty and unattached I'm destined to be a spinster, or something. I think it's insane, honestly. What about you? You're not from around here, so what are you doing here?"

"I'm a traveler," the Doctor explained. "I was just passing through, heard about the dance, and here I am!"

"And why on earth would you be traveling through this town?"

"I've always wanted to experience small-town life, I guess."

"You're crazy, then. It's pretty boring."

"Well, maybe we'll get lucky and something exciting will happen."

"Doubt it."

* * *

**Notes: So, I've wanted to write a back story on how Sadie met the Doctor, it's just taken me awhile to get it sorted out in my head. I figured since I had the idea, I might as well start it! Oh, and depending on how you read this, Sadie might be gasp an American. :) **


	2. Let's Dance On

**Let's Dance On**

Sadie was still sitting in the same chair a good hour later, idly tapping her foot to the beat of the music. The Doctor had come and gone a few times during the hour. Sadie got the impression he didn't like to stay still very long. Dylan had reappeared as well. Sadie groaned as she saw him approaching for the fifth time.

"No!" she called as soon as he was within earshot. It didn't stop him.

"Your Mom is going to ask if you danced or not, you know," Dylan said as he came up. "Might as well dance with me, and then you can tell her truthfully that you danced with someone!" There was at least a small amount of logic in what he said, Sadie thought. She debated it mentally for a moment.

"No."

"Aww, why not?" Dylan whined. Sadie pointed down to her feet. "That's such a lame excuse. Just take them off and come dance?"

"Fine. If I dance with you one time will you leave me alone for the rest of the night?" Sadie asked. Dylan nodded enthusiastically. "One dance. That's it. Got it?" Dylan nodded again. Sadie reached down to slip off her heels. There was no way she'd ever make it through a whole dance with them on. She stood up, noticing that even without her shoes she was a good six inches taller than Dylan. "Come on then, let's get it over with. At least I won't have to lie, this way."

Dylan grabbed her hand and half-dragged her out onto the dance floor. As they danced, Sadie caught a glimpse of the Doctor watching them from the side, a huge grin plastered across his face. "Great."

"What?" Dylan asked, confused.

"Nothing." Sadie glanced back over her shoulder, but the Doctor was gone. She turned her attention back to Dylan, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. Sadie guessed it really wasn't all that bad, mostly. At least she was making Dylan happy, and she'd have a story to tell her mother. Then, a hand appeared on Dylan's shoulder.

"Mind if I cut in?" The Doctor asked. Dylan grumbled, but he allowed the Doctor to take his place.

"That was cheesy," Sadie declared, as Dylan walked away, shooting daggers at the Doctor's back with his eyes.

"What was?"

"'Mind if I cut in?' That's the cheesiest line you could have used."

"It was not. What else was I supposed to say?"

"I don't know. But it was still cheesy," Sadie grinned. "I thought you didn't have much use for dancing."

"I said I didn't have _much_ use for it, not that I didn't have _any_ use for it. Right now it's serving a very important purpose," The Doctor replied.

"And that is?"

"It's letting me talk to you."

"Oh. That makes sense, then." Sadie winced, the Doctor's dancing skills proving to be less-than-spectacular. "Ow!"

"Sorry!"

"I see why you don't have much use for it now. You're lousy at it. Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"You know most, if not all, of the people here tonight, don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Have you seen anyone tonight that you didn't recognize."  
"Yeah. You." Sadie giggled as the Doctor sighed.

"I probably asked for that one," he said. "Anyone else other than me?"

"Nope. No one else," Sadie replied. The Doctor frowned slightly. "Why?" The Doctor turned so that Sadie was now facing the opposite direction. He motioned towards a woman standing against the wall, almost out of sight.

"That woman over there, in the red dress. Have you ever seen her before?"

"No, I haven't."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Why?" Sadie asked again. "What's so important about her?"

"She's potentially dangerous," The Doctor answered. "I'm not sure what she's doing here, but I have the feeling it's not to enjoy the dance." Sadie's eyes widened.

"You've known all this time that she's dangerous and you've not said anything?!" she exclaimed. "If she's a threat then we need to tell someone!" She started to pull away but the Doctor stopped her.

"No, listen to me. Right now that woman doesn't know I'm here, and that gives me a very good advantage if something were to happen. It needs to stay that way." The Doctor said. Sadie nodded.

"Okay." The Doctor looked surprised.

"Okay? You trust me that quickly?" he asked. Sadie shrugged.

"You seem to know what you're talking about."

Before the Doctor could reply, the lights in the hall blew out all at once, showering sparks. There were a few startled screams, and then groans as the sprinkler system kicked on, dousing everyone with cold water. The Doctor, much to Sadie's amazement, remained calm throughout it all.

"And so it begins," he commented.


	3. Games People Play

**Games People Play**

"And so what begins?" Sadie asked, water streaming from her hair, her dress…pretty much everywhere. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. The Doctor was sizing up the situation carefully, eyes scanning across the crowd. There was plenty of noise, what with people complaining about the sprinklers, and confused questioning as to what was going on.

"Sadie, you said before that you trusted me, right?" he asked, turning to her. Sadie nodded. "Good. Because you're going to have to trust me for this to work."

"For what to work? I don't understand…" Sadie felt more confused than she'd ever felt before.

"I can't explain it right now. It would take too long. Just stay here, and keep your head down," The Doctor said, slipping away into the crowd.

"Where are you going?" Sadie called after him.

"I'll be back, I promise," The Doctor called over his shoulder. Sadie didn't feel very comforted by his promise, but she didn't have long to ponder it.

"Alright, all of you, that's quite enough noise," a clear, cool voice rang out over the crowd. Everyone immediately fell silent, and all heads turned towards the voice, which belonged to the woman in red. She smiled, clearly enjoying the attention. "I'm so pleased you could attend my party. We're going to have so much fun together." She moved towards the center of the room, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. She coolly looked over the crowds. Sadie shivered as the woman's eyes reached her, examining her from head to toe. "Pitiful. Just pitiful," the woman said. "But I suppose that's what I get for choosing this sort of town."

"Um, excuse me, but…what's going on here?" a young boy, Ethan, asked. The woman turned to face him.

"How sweet, the human child is confused," she said, condescension dripping from her voice as she walked closer to Ethan. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you will soon learn of my intentions." The woman patted the top of the boy's head and then headed to the front of the hall. "We're going to play a little game, children," she said sweetly. "I'm sure you're all going to love it."

Worried glances were being exchanged, and Sadie could feel the panic level beginning to rise.

"Look lady, I don't know who you think you are, but we don't have to do a thing you tell us," an older boy that Sadie didn't recognize spoke up. "C'mon everyone, let's get out of here and leave this psycho to play her little game."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the woman sing-songed warningly. Sadie watched as the boy strode over to the door defiantly.

"Come on! She's not going to do anything," he said. No one followed him, though. Instead, they all stood watching, waiting to see what would happen. The boy reached the door, and put his hand out to open it. As soon as his hand touched the door handle, there was a flash and he disintegrated into a pile of dust. There was a mix of gasps and screams.

"Told ya! Anyone else want to leave?" the woman grinned. No one moved. "Didn't think so. Now let's get started."

* * *

**Notes: Okay, so this chapter is kinda lame. I apologize. I'll do better, I promise.**


	4. New Recruits

**New Recruits**

The woman in the red dress, a smile fixed upon her face, scanned over the room, making slight hmm-ing noises. She placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, it seems there are too many available participants for our little game. We'll have to thin the crowd out a little before we can begin." She pulled a small, silvery gun from inside the front of her dress. "Now, let's approach this systematically. We'll count off." She stepped closer to the people who were standing around her, using her gun as a pointer as she counted. "One, two, three, four!" She fired her weapon and the fourth person she had counted off disintegrated into a pile of dust. There were screams from the crowd, but no one moved. The woman resumed counting, eliminating every fourth person.

"Why is everyone just standing here?" Sadie questioned aloud, albeit quietly. "They're all just standing there, letting her kill them!" She paused for a moment, thinking. "Of course, I'm just standing here too, but not anymore." And with that, she hunched down to better hide herself from the woman, and began to make her way towards the back. Once there, she'd have a clear path to the door leading elsewhere in the hall. It wouldn't be completely safe, but it would be safer, anyway.

Sadie successfully made her way through the crowd of people unnoticed, and crouched behind the last person, eyeing the small stretch of floor she'd have to cross to reach relative safety. She took a deep breath, screwed up every ounce of courage she could muster, and began to run. She had almost made it across when she heard the woman yell. Sadie didn't stop, since she knew stopping would be deadly.

She stopped just outside the ballroom, trying to catch her breath and figure out what to do next. Sadie could hear the woman's heels clicking across the tile floor in her direction, which wasn't good.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Doctor appeared. With one swift motion, he grabbed Sadie's hand and instructed her with one simple word.

"Run!"

The two of them ran down the foyer, darting through doorways and into rooms Sadie had never seen. She hoped the Doctor knew where he was going. It appeared that he did, but she wasn't sure. They finally came to a storage room far back within the depths of the hall. The Doctor slammed the door once they were inside, and whipped a small device from his pocket, aiming it at the door. A strange noise came from it, and the end of it glowed blue.

"What is that?" Sadie panted, leaning against the wall tiredly.

"Sonic screwdriver. Very handy," The Doctor replied, moving over to a large blue box that was sitting in the corner of the storage room. Sadie had never seen anything like it before. Signs around the top declared it to be a 'Police Public Call Box'. The Doctor swung the door open of the box, looking back at Sadie. "You coming?"

"Why do you want to go in that box?" Sadie asked, confused. "There's not enough room in that to do much of anything. There's much more room out here! Besides, you don't even know what that box is doing here! There could be anything inside of it. Spiders or other creepy crawlies…" Sadie shuddered. The Doctor grinned.

"Just come inside," he said simply, holding the door open. Sadie cautiously walked over and stepped inside the box, followed by the Doctor.

"Whoa…" Sadie breathed, eyes wide. The box wasn't a box at all, and was much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. "What is this?"

"This, Sadie, is a TARDIS."

"What's a TARDIS?"

"It means Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It-"  
"So it's like a space ship or something?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"That's so cool!" Sadie was definitely impressed. "So is this where you went running of to, leaving me out there to potentially die?"

"Yep," The Doctor replied, spinning a small screen around so he could look at it. "It was easier to sneak away alone. Besides, I needed to figure out exactly what her motive was, in taking over the dance like this. I was on my way back for you when you came running out."

"So, what's going on out there, then?" Sadie asked. "Who is that woman and what is she doing?"

"She's an Appalian. Very meticulous sort of alien. They're constantly developing new sorts of mind control devices in a quest to form the perfect army. Hundreds of planets pay them amazingly large sums of money to develop new equipment. As best as I can tell, that's what she's here for. She's hoping to test a new device. It seems to be fairly limited, though. She's afraid of overloading the circuits."

"Which would explain why she said there was too big of a crowd," Sadie added in. "Is there a way to stop her?"

"That's what I'm working on now."

Meanwhile, back in the ballroom, the woman in red was making her way back to the crowd of people. She had decided not to pursue the girl any further, deciding that she and the Doctor would make excellent targets for her test army. She resumed her place in the center of the crowd. No one had moved at all. It was almost too easy, she thought. She sized up the crowd carefully, and then took aim with her small firearm. She pulled the trigger, effectively eliminating an entire row of people.

"Perfect. I had planned to make this experience as fun as possible, but unfortunately, recent events dictate that I move faster than I had planned. I'm sure you all won't mind," she said sweetly. "Now, let's move on to the next phase of our little game, shall we?"


	5. One Man's Trash

**One Man's Trash**

"So…" Sadie said, leaning against the console. She had been silently watching the Doctor fiddle with various screens and such for awhile, but couldn't stand to be silent any longer. She was just too curious. "You said this was a space ship, and you have that little screwdriver thingy that you used before….so I'm going to take a pretty huge leap here and say that you're not from Earth."

"And you would be right," The Doctor replied simply, not even looking up from his screen.

"Where are you from then?"

"Not important."

"It is to me!" Sadie protested. The Doctor didn't answer her. She sighed. "So what exactly are you then?"

"An alien."

"Well you're good at sarcasm and avoiding straight answers, whatever you are," Sadie stated, mentally deciding that her questions could probably wait until things had calmed down somewhat. "Anyway, have you found out a way to stop that Appal-woman yet?"

"Almost," The Doctor answered. "The type of mind control she's planning to test is incredibly intricate. I just need to tap into the matrixes and find a way to override the system. Trouble is, even with the TARDIS, it's taking awhile to break through the protection to get into the mainframes." He smacked a hand against the side of the screen he was staring into. "Come on!" His face lit up then, and he laughed loudly. "That's it!"

"What? What's it?" Sadie asked. "Did you figure out how to stop her?" The Doctor turned to her, grinning.

"Oh yes!" He went running across the metal floor of the TARDIS, to a door just outside the console room and flung it open. Apparently, it was a closet of some kind, and a cascade of gadgets, gizmos, trinkets and curiosities came tumbling out of it. The Doctor sifted through the mess, grabbing random items, and then came rushing back. He dumped the whole armload onto a seat and stepped back. "Ta da!" he declared, throwing his arms out into the air. Sadie was less than impressed.

"Um…what is it?" she asked. "It just looks like a pile of garbage to me." The Doctor looked offended.

"A pile of gar…A pile of garbage!" he exclaimed. "Sadie, these parts will become the mechanism that saves your life, not to mention the lives of all the others out there!" He shook his head and then began fitting the parts together, using his screwdriver to fuse them together. After a few minutes, he held it up. "Well? What do you think now?"

"It looks like a bunch of junk fused onto a square," Sadie answered, honestly. The Doctor shook his head.

"Humans." Sadie looked offended this time. "Come on, let's get going." The Doctor, carrying his newly fashioned gadget, headed for the door with Sadie close on his heels. Once outside the storage room, he broke into an all out run down the hallway, and Sadie had to push herself to keep up with him. As soon as they made it back into the ballroom, the Doctor froze, and Sadie nearly ran into him. She was panting, but oddly enough, the Doctor didn't seem out of breath.

"Why'd you stop?"

"Sadie…look," he said, motioning with his head. Sadie looked up and her eyes grew wide. The terrified group of people she had left earlier had been replaced with rigid, blank faced versions, standing in a military formation. The Doctor and Sadie moved towards them carefully.

"They look dead," Sadie said, waving a hand in front of a girl's face. "Look at their eyes…" The Doctor was peering through a pair of black rimmed glasses at a young boy.

"They're not dead," he commented. "Dead soldiers wouldn't be any good, now would they?"

"What's happened to them? Is this the mind control thing you were telling me about before?"

"Yes, and from what I can tell, it seems to be working perfectly." He had his screwdriver aimed at the boy. Sadie guessed he was doing a scan of some sort.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the girl she was standing near turned her head sharply to face her, staring straight at her with cold eyes. She moved back slowly, bumping into the boy who was in formation beside the girl. He abruptly jerked his head around to face her as well.

"Doctor…" Sadie's voice was shaking. "I think we're in trouble…"

"The enemy has been sighted." The boy droned. "Kill." The word was echoed around the room from each person.

"Kill."

* * *

**Notes: I hope the "kill" thing wasn't too cliché! Couldn't think of anything better for them to say! Sorry for lack of updates too, but I was out of town and without writing time! I'm back now though :)**


	6. Mechanical Marvel

**Mechanical Marvel**

"Doctor, do something!" Sadie felt her level of panic rising as she moved back slowly from the dancers-turned-soldiers in front of her and closer to the Doctor. "Use your machine you're so proud of!"

"I'm trying!" The Doctor answered. And indeed he was. He was gallantly working the piece of machinery he held in his hands. But nothing seemed to be happening. Then, wisps of smoke began to emerge from the cracks. Sadie wasn't exactly sure how the device worked, but even she knew it wasn't supposed to do anything like that. The Doctor looked down at it with wide eyes. "No! No, no, no, no, no!" He smacked a hand against the side of it a couple times, and then began fishing for his sonic screwdriver.

The lines of soldiers began to move forward, still echoing the single word.

"Kill."

"Why isn't it working? Why aren't they stopping?!" Sadie was now terrified beyond belief. She hadn't thought about what would happen if the Doctor's device didn't work as planned. She had just blindly trusted him. She was mentally kicking herself for that one now.

"Don't worry, I can fix it!" The Doctor assured her. He had found his screwdriver and was working frantically with it as he and Sadie moved backwards from the approaching formation. A few of them had outstretched arms. Sadie couldn't help but think of how zombie-like they looked, and how this whole thing was like a scene from _Night of the Living Dead_. If she hadn't been so terrified, she would have burst out laughing at that thought.

The two of them eventually hit the wall and could do no further. The Doctor was still frenziedly trying to make his machine work, but it just didn't seem to be happening.

"I thought you said you could fix it!"  
"I can! I just don't know how fast I can fix it." The soldiers were getting closer and closer.

"I really don't think they're going to sit and wait while you figure it out!"

The soldiers were now surrounding them completely. There was absolutely no chance to escape now. But, just as they reached to take hold of their victims, a command echoed across the room, causing the soldiers to freeze.

"Halt!" Sadie and the Doctor could hear heels clicking across the floor. "Very, very good." The footsteps stopped. There was an audible click, and the army immediately began to march back into its former formation. The woman in the red dress was standing in the middle of the floor, holding what looked like a remote control, smiling. "It's been quite awhile since I last saw you, Doctor. You seem to have gone a bit downhill, though, I think. I can't imagine why you'd come to a place like this. You must be losing your sense of adventure." She sashayed a bit closer, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "This system is working out wonderfully, don't you think? It's even better than I had hoped for. Imagine if they had had weapons already. You'd have been blasted to bits long ago."

The Doctor gave the woman an icy glare.

"You know you're not supposed to do this."

"Whyever not?" The woman asked innocently, giving the Doctor a doe-eyed stare. The Doctor glowered.

"These are people! Not _things_ for you to experiment on," he said, stepping towards the woman. Sadie grabbed the device from his hands and began examining it. The Doctor paid her no mind, though.

"Stop right there, please. I happen to like my personal space. Move closer and I'll have my soldiers tear you to shreds." The woman said calmly, fingers poised over her controls. The Doctor stopped. "Thank you. Now, would you care to explain to me how I'm supposed to test out my system without using these people?"

"You know as well as I do there are plenty of methods for testing your inventions."  
"Yes, but none of them ever seem to be as conclusive as human testing."

"This test is over." The woman laughed loudly, then turned and walked towards her army, clearly showing that she thought the Doctor unworthy of a response.

"My army is beautiful. This invention is going to make me rich, Doctor. I just need to try out one last thing. The weapons. I'm sure they'll work perfectly, as everything else has, but my potential buyers deserve a full battery of testing. And I think the test would work ever so much better if there were live targets. Two live targets." The woman spoke a single word, and three large mechanical balls rolled in from another room. They unfolded themselves and began outfitting the soldiers with weaponry. They worked at lightning speed, and before long, the entire outfit was armed. The robotic assistants changed back into ball form and rolled away. The woman smirked. "Imagine the publicity my system will get when people learn that the infamous Doctor died during the testing. I'll sell thousands!"

And with that, the woman turned to walk away. The Doctor realized it was utterly useless to try to go after her. He ran a hand through his already mussed hair, muttering to himself, trying to think of something, anything to do. Then, without any warning, his failed apparatus was shoved into his stomach by Sadie. He looked at her quizzically for an explanation. She was grinning.

"You forgot to connect a few wires."

* * *

**Notes: Probably only two chapters left to this one. I seriously hate to see it end! :(  
**


	7. This Could Be the Beginning

**T****his Could be the Beginning**

"Sadie Mitchell, you are brilliant!" The Doctor exclaimed, taking the machine and swiftly pressing the buttons on it. Immediately the lines of soldiers began to twitch. Wisps of smoke began to float from each person's ears, which worried Sadie.

"Is…is that supposed to happen?" she asked, looking nervously over at the Doctor. "Their heads aren't going to like, blow up, are they??"

The Doctor gave her a strange look. "What makes you think I would do something that would make their heads explode?"

"Um…well…"

"Exactly," he answered quickly. Sadie wasn't exactly sure what has transpired, but the Doctor seemed content enough. "All this is doing is erasing the mind control from their brains. Completely harmless."

The two of them watched as one by one, each person began to return to their former state. Soon the room began to fill with chattering, mostly confused tones. It was obvious that no one had remembered any of what had happened. Which was probably for the better, Sadie figured. The Doctor began to walk towards the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Sadie asked, running after him.

"I'm going to go tell those people what happened and tell them it's alright to leave," The Doctor replied, a slightly bemused expression on his face.

Sadie shook her head. "Can't let ya do that."

"And why not?"

"Because!" Sadie exclaimed, using her hands to try to emphasize her point. "Things are way different around here. I've read about the alien events that have happened overseas, because I'm a nerd, but nothing like that has happened here. The only people who claim to have alien contact are considered wackos. You know, the kind you see on TV who can barely string a sentence together, and have maybe five teeth?" She took on a wide-eyed expression and deepened her already quite Southern drawl. "That thang had fi'ty lights on it, an' 'fore I knew what was a-goin' on, this lil ol' green man came jest a-strollin' out an' he tol' me with his mind powers that Elvis was still alive an' doin' well with them." She nodded, signaling the end of her little charade. The Doctor was laughing. She'd mimicked the hillbilly alien encounter perfectly. Sadie waited for him to stop before she went on. "Seriously, if you tried to explain, no one would believe you, and you'd probably end up being locked up in an insane asylum."

"You make a good point, I suppose." The Doctor grinned. He adopted an accent of his own. "Y'all are mighty strange, after all." Sadie frowned.

"Don't do that again. Just stay over here, be quiet, and let me take care of this one." Sadie jogged over to Dylan, who had come out of the experience unscathed.

"Hey Sadie!" He was happy to see her, but he still seemed greatly confused. "What's going on? Why is everyone just standing around? I feel like I've missed something important…"

"Oh, it wasn't anything special," Sadie responded, quickly, shrugging her shoulders. "Just dancing and stuff. I almost hate to admit it, but I had a good time!"

Dylan looked even more confused. "So…is it over?"

"Yup! Tell your mom hello for me, will ya? Bye!" Sadie made her way back over to the Doctor, who seemed less than impressed with her method. "Just watch, will ya?"

Dylan passed the news along to another person, who passed it on, and it soon spread over the entire crowd. People began making their way to the exit, just as Sadie had planned. She turned to the Doctor, grinning. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but then froze. His eyes widened.

"The Appalian! I completely forgot her!" He exclaimed, and took off for the corridor. Sadie went after him. He ran, ducking through doors and rooms, until he reached the back exit. He flung the door open just in time for them to see a small cylindrical shape fly away.

"Was that her?" Sadie asked. The Doctor nodded. "So she got away?"

"Yup."

"But why didn't she put up a fight?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I guess she didn't think it was worth the effort. She'll just find another place to test her devices."

"Well that's anticlimactic." Sadie, oddly enough, felt a little disappointed. She'd expected something a bit more exciting.

"Sometimes it happens that way." The Doctor didn't seem bothered at all.

"So you do this often?" Sadie asked. "Travel to different places, nearly get killed, then save the day?"

"All the time."

"By yourself?"

"Sometimes."

"Don't you get lonely though? I know I would," Sadie said honestly.

The Doctor was silent for a moment before speaking again. "You are possibly the nosiest person I've ever met, Sadie Mitchell. And that's really saying something."

"I was only curious," Sadie replied, clearly offended. She hadn't expected that kind of reaction. "You needn't be so rude. Especially after I helped you with your little machine thingy." The Doctor didn't answer her, which only made her angrier. "Fine then, I'll just go and leave you to yourself then. I guess I should say thanks, at least, for helping out. So thanks, and have fun going to wherever you plan to go next." With that, Sadie turned and began to make her way back inside. She'd made it about halfway when she heard footsteps behind her. The Doctor came up beside her.

"I thought you deserved a thanks as well," he said, after walking with her in silence for a few minutes. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."

"Don't mention it," Sadie replied simply. The two walked a bit further.

"I don't mean to be rude," The Doctor admitted. "I just have…well…let's just say I have quite a complicated past. It's not exactly something I care to talk about. I'm sure you have things you prefer not to discuss."

"Yeah," Sadie agreed. "Most people do." The two of them were silent then. As they walked, Sadie began to think. She really hadn't meant to hit a nerve with her questions, it had just happened. She guessed that he'd reacted that way because she'd said something that rang true for him. Maybe he really was lonely, moreso than he'd like to admit. Well, she could speculate, but there was no chance of her bringing it up again, that was for sure. By that time, the pair reached the ballroom. Sadie found her shoes sitting where she'd left them long ago, amazingly.

"No chance of these stupid things getting destroyed," she muttered, tucking them under her arm and heading for the door. The Doctor was standing there awkwardly, hands in his pockets. Sadie approached, starting to feel a bit awkward herself. "So…I suppose I better be getting home now…" she said. "Mom will be expecting me."

The Doctor nodded. Sadie began making her way to the door, but she stopped when the Doctor called after her.

"Sadie?"  
"Yes, Doctor?"

"Mind if I go with you?"

"I wouldn't mind at all," she replied. The Doctor grinned. He offered her an arm.

"I'll be your escort home," he said. "Like a traditional Southern gentleman." Sadie giggled.

"Why thank you, kind sir," she said in a Southern-Bell-esque tone, curtseying as best as she could. "You are awfully kind to lil ol' me." She took his arm and the two headed off down the sidewalk towards Sadie's home.


	8. An Offer

**An Offer**

The Doctor and Sadie strolled aimlessly down the sidewalk. The streets were empty, except for the random passing car. All of the traffic lights along the streets were blinking, which, as Sadie had explained, meant that the streets had been "rolled up" for the night. There were lampposts scattered here and there to light the way, but for the most part, the town was dark. As they passed various old buildings, Sadie related stories about them to the Doctor. She seemed to know quite a bit about the history of the town.

"That building there on the corner is the old hotel," she said, pointing it out as they neared it. "It's been converted to office spaces now, and the radio station is there, too. The station is pretty pathetic though…the funniest thing is when they do what's called the "swap shop". People call in to try to sell stuff, and it's so funny to hear them talk about cars they wanna sell that have ''lectric winders' and 'new tahres'." She giggled at her imitation, having once again adopted a hillbilly tone, but the Doctor looked confused. Sadie was a bit confused herself. "What?"

"I have absolutely no clue what you just said," he told her simply. Sadie sighed.

"I keep forgetting you're not used to this kind of talk. They mean electric windows and tires."

"That makes more sense. Yours is one of the hardest dialects to decipher sometimes." By now they had made their way out of the main part of the town, and nearer to the houses that sat on the outskirts. The Doctor paused for a moment, looking back towards the town. "That's it? That was the whole town?" Sadie nodded. "Not very much to it, is there?"

"I told you it was boring here," Sadie replied as they resumed walking. "Maybe next time you'll believe me." She paused and thought for a minute. "So is that the only reason you came here? The Appalian, I mean."

The Doctor nodded. "Mostly."

Sadie looked skeptical. "You were serious when you said you wanted to know what it was like in a small town like this?" she asked in amazement. "I told you before, it's boring and nothing exciting ever happens here. That's really all you need to know. I should know."

"You've always lived here?" The Doctor asked curiously, glancing over at Sadie, who was absently looking up at the stars_._

"Yep," she replied. "My entire life. Here in this little nothing of a town. I've never been further than a few states away." She looked up at the Doctor with a curious expression. "You said you travelled a lot…where do you go, exactly?"

"Oh, anywhere I please," The Doctor replied nonchalantly.

"Anywhere, literally?"

The Doctor nodded. "Anywhere in the entire universe," he replied, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth_._

Sadie looked quite impressed. "You're so lucky," she said, enviously. "I'd give anything to be able to do that."

"Tell you what," The Doctor began, giving her a grin. "As a proper thanks, you know, for helping with the Appalian…how'd you like to come with me on a trip? Just a quick one. It wouldn't take long at all, and you'll be back before anyone suspects anything."

Sadie's eyes widened. "Really?!" she exclaimed, obviously excited. "That'd be awesome!"

"Great," The Doctor replied, immediately turning to head back for the Hall. "Let's get going then."

Sadie didn't move. The Doctor stopped when he realized she wasn't following him, and looked back, puzzled.

"You want to take me somewhere dressed like this?" she asked, looking down at her dress and bare feet.

The Doctor shrugged."Why not? You look fine."

"I don't have any shoes on!"

"Well they're right there under your arm, you can just put them on in the TARDIS," he answered.

Sadie raised an eyebrow. "I can't even walk in them," she said simply.

"What's the point of having shoes if you can't walk in them?" The Doctor asked, looking even more confused than before.

"I didn't want them," Sadie responded. She debated mentally for a moment before chucking them into a nearby garbage can. "I'll manage without them."

"So," The Doctor said, flashing her a grin as they began heading back for the Hall. "Where would you like to go?

* * *

**Notes: The end has come, it seems! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this little story of mine! It's greatly appreciated, trust me. Special thanks to the loveliest beta reader EVER - Firebreathing Fishies - for being so awesome and helpful and just all around fantastical! :D **

**I've already started on the next adventure for Sadie and the Doctor, so be sure to watch for it!! :) **


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